SALT LAKE CITY -- Defense lawyers and federal prosecutors were back in court Wednesday after a two-year absence to make arrangements for the bribery trial involving the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The trial, which starts Oct. 28, is expected to take six weeks.

Tom Welch, 58, who was president of the Salt Lake bid and organizing committees, and Dave Johnson, 44, who was senior vice president, are accused of lavishing $1 million in cash, gifts and other inducements on International Olympic Committee delegates who awarded Salt Lake City the games. Welch and Johnson face a 15-count felony indictment charging bribery racketeering, fraud and conspiracy.

Neither defendant was in court Wednesday as their lawyers argued jury selection and other arrangements with the two trial attorneys resurrecting the Justice Department's case.

Outside court, Bill Taylor, Welch's lawyer, told reporters asking about prospects for a plea bargain, "It's going to trial, period."

Johnson's lawyer, Max Wheeler, affirmed that: "I think the chances of this going to trial are almost certain."

At least twice before, Welch and Johnson rejected government plea offers to a single count of tax fraud, although the government refused to make any guarantees about prison or probation.

The government hasn't renewed offers to the two men.

John Scott, one of the prosecutors, said he will open the government case with charts showing Welch and Johnson "paid bribes to a bunch of IOC members." The charts will cite expenses uncovered by auditors after the scandal broke in late 1998, almost four years after Salt Lake won the bid for the 2002 games.

The defense has insisted those expenditures reflect simple gratuities, not bribes.

U.S. District Court Judge David Sam threw out all charges against Welch and Johnson in 2001, but was overruled in April by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The ruling forced Sam to reschedule the trial, which had been originally set to begin months before the 2002 Winter Games.

Some trial strategy was revealed Wednesday. Prosecutors indicated a preference for jurors with little knowledge of the scandal, while defense lawyers argued for keeping the jury pool as broad as possible. The defense hopes sympathetic Utah jurors will reject the government's case as overreaching.

The Salt Lake Olympic scandal led to the ouster or resignation of 10 IOC members and tightened international bidding rules.

Taylor provided a glimpse at another defense strategy when he rose to question Justice Department plans to call a government agent at the end of its case to summarize testimony and documents for jurors. Taylor is likely to object to any damning conclusions from the unidentified "summary witness."

Taylor also asserted the government would face particular difficulty trying to prove the bribery conspiracy count, and said the charts the government plans to use must be "neutral."